Two men on the barge were killed, one of them was blown some sixty yards by the force of the explosion, which also caused a great fire, and seven haystacks close to the Canal were burnt. Five other people on board were fortunate to escape with their lives.

According to our informant, those killed were responsible for the accident. Desiring to partake of the alcohol, they had attempted to bore a hole in a barrel by means of a gimlet, mistaking a barrel of gunpowder for a puncheon of spirits. It is believed that the friction of the gimlet against the wood produced the catastrophe.